This collection of essays provides a comprehensive summary of practice and research. The essays provide an overview of the vulnerabilities and threats to information security and introduce the important concepts and terms. In addition, the essays summarize the definitions and controls of the trusted computer system evaluation criteria and discuss information security policy focusing on information control and dissemination. Recommendations are presented based on practical experience.

Other essays explore the architectures used in the development of trusted relational database management systems, discuss the effects that multilevel DBMS security requirements can have on the system's data integrity, and compare three research DBMS prototypes.

Additional essays identify the motivation for using formal methods across different development stages of a trusted computer system, feature a new approach to formal modeling of a trusted computer system, and present a new security model for mandatory access controls in object-oriented database systems. The book concludes with a list of acronyms, a glossary offering multiple definitions of terms, and a list of references from the text.